for the sunset prayer, they would rise and pray, and the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, would see them and not forbid them. (1) This shows that performing it promptly means that one should proceed to it once the call to prayer has been made, though one may delay long enough to perform ablution, pray the two rak'ahs, and the like.

His statement, “except on the night of Jamʿ”: Jamʿ is another name for Muzdalifah. It was called Jamʿ because people—the Quraysh and others—gather there on the night before Eid. At Arafah, however, people did not all gather, because in the pre-Islamic period the Quraysh would not stand at Arafah; rather, they would stand at Muzdalifah.

His statement, “for one who goes there in a state of ihram,” means: one who proceeds to Jamʿ in a state of ihram. The pronoun here refers to Jamʿ, not to the prayer. Had the author, may Allah have mercy on him, said, “except on the night at Muzdalifah for the pilgrim,” it would have been clearer and more concise, and it is what the wording means. Yet many jurists—especially the adherents of the imitated legal schools—pass down an expression from the first person to formulate it to the last person to repeat it. This book is, moreover, an abridgment of al-Muqniʿ by al-Muwaffaq, so one finds that he followed those before him in its wording.

In any case, the author, may Allah have mercy on him, made one exception concerning the sunset prayer: when the pilgrim departs from Arafah, he does not pray at Arafah or on the way; rather, he prays at Muzdalifah.

The evidence for this is that when the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, dismounted and relieved himself in the mountain pass, Usamah ibn Zayd—who was riding behind him—said to him, “The prayer, O Messenger of Allah.” He replied, “The prayer is ahead of you,” (2) and did not pray. Thus, he delayed it until Muzdalifah. And he excluded